I'm an American looking to be certified to be able to teach in Hong Kong, Taiwan, or China. Being that the three countries have varying levels of requirements for certification, can anyone help with recommending a credible online TEFL program?

I do not reside in an area where a in-class course is available. I must pursue an online course but am looking for one that is third party accredited.

Hong Kong requires a CELTA, Trinity, or Equivalent such as TESL Canada. You can earn up to $6,000/month there and a minimum of $3,000.Any certificate is good in China, but you should take a minimum of a 100-hour course to be prepared as a professional ESL teacher. A 100-hour course is the minimum requriement in S.Korea-top ESL destination- and most of Asia.

... is not accurate as I have pointed out several times on tis board. In most of Asia, due to the plethora of course providers that has grown since the Internet became a media for distance courses, recruiters are now often unable to see the wood for the trees, and tend to take all certificates except those that are household names, with a pinch of salt, especially those from small countries such as Canada, where the course providers are evidently struggling for enrollments.

Canada has one of the biggest ESL industries in the world, where thousands of international students come every year, and teachers must be well-qualified to teach here. Anybody who can teach here can do so in the best paying schools in Europe, Australia, Dubai, and Hong Kong as many of our graduates from Canada, the UK, and the USA are currently doing so. It´s not the internet as a medium that makes a course good or bad but the course itself. Our 250-hour online course with practicum is the same that is offered by universities (http://www.tesl.ca) and an extended version of Coventry House International´s Trinity program. We only work with recruiters from North America and EPIK (Government agency in Korea)to provide our teachers with a peace of mind if anything goes wrong but many recruiters from Asia contact us on a weekly basis to send them teachers. My suggestion to you and the recruiters you know is to do more research and provide your students with better teachers and unless you have other commercial interests (You do seem to agree with Ical Pete a lot even when he makes such controvertial claims -for his own commercial interests- that people should take an introductory course before the CELTA) don´t make such invalid arguments that push people towards the bad courses. In fact, the industry for introductory online TEFL courses originated in the UK and the worst schools are from there. If you just like arguing with me because for some reason you simply don´t like businesses expressing their opinion, I´m not trying to push the 100-hour course we offer by saying that the minimum requirement is such a course. When people ask about online courses, they have probably already made a decision not to take an advanced and expensive course because online courses are generally of 100 hours or less so my suggestion to them is to take at least a 100-hour course and mention that the most reputable schools and best paying jobs ask for a CELTA, Trinity, or equivalent. Maybe I should be more explicit next time.

[quote="Lucas"]Canada has one of the biggest ESL industries in the world, where ...[quote="Lucas"]

Lucas, I'm not seeking an argument with anyone, I just prefer to see things kept in perspective and reserve the right not to share your opinion on some things. I, for one, seriously doubt the accuracy of the above statement, but I'm not going to waste my time researching just to prove or disprove it. Certainly outside the country, Canada is one one of the least mentioned names, and the number of teachers from that country are certainly not more than those from the USA, UK, Australia or any other native English speaking country.

I don't need lecturing on how I should be recruiting teachers. I've already mentioned on this board that if a job candidate presents your certificate to me, it will be accepted along with the hundreds of others. It's interesting to note however, that out of the nearly 10,000 job applications I have vetted over the last 6 years, not one was accompanied by a certificate from your organisation in one of the biggest TEFL industries in the world.I will certainly admit to according preference to 100 - 120 hour face-to-face courses with a significant element of observed and commented live teaching practice. This and my other criteria (of which the TESOL cert is but one) assures a quality of teachers in my schools that admittedly other employers might not insist upon; but those other job providers are not my concern.

As far as plugging your courses, you've done it again but that is a matter between you and the board admins (I notice your signature has been removed). Nevertheless, sufficient inquirers on this board have expressed wishes to see less advice cloaked in promotional posts, and more objectivity from those who have actually graduated, or from DOS, recruiters, and teacher trainers, who have nothing to sell. If would would like to get some professional exposure for your courses rather than having to contrive questionable advice for posting in forums, I would be happy to send you a list of high traffic TEFL websites specialised in courses listings, where for a modest sum you can place an ad without risking of being counter attacked by people like me ;)

I'm not just plugging my courses here, but as a highly accredited course provider I know what's good and what's bad. We receive a lot of graduates from bad online schools who upgrade their credentials with us and we see a lot of harm being done by these schools. I wish I could directly state which are the worst schools without getting Coventry House International and Ontesol into trouble. For us, these threads help us express our opinion when possible and provide more information as well as a link to our school so people can see it for themselves. Most of the visitors we receive don't come from threads because we use a lot of banner advertisement and other forms of marketing. Thanks for your help though and I'd be happy to receive more information and suggestions in a private message.